Known from prior art are capacitive contact sensors, which may be arranged at a handheld device, in particular a cell phone, to detect a contact with and a grasping of, respectively, the electric handheld device by a hand. When a contact with and a grasping of, respectively, the electric handheld device is detected, the electric handheld device may, for example, be transferred from a sleep mode into an operating mode. After the change of the operating mode, and at a detection of a grasping of the electric handheld device, still further functions may be activated in the electric handheld device. For example, the detection of the grasping of a cell phone by a hand may be used to answer an incoming call once the cell phone is grasped by the hand.
However, a function assigned to a grasping of the handheld device only may be carried out, when in fact a grasping of the handheld device takes place. For example, a call coming in at a cell phone cannot be answered by grasping the cell phone by a hand, when the cell phone already is grasped by the hand during the incoming of the call. When the electric handheld device already is grasped by a hand a further operation of the handheld device cannot anymore be detected on a capacitive basis. Further functions of the handheld device, for example answering a call, only can be activated in a conventional manner, for example by actuating a mechanical key.